Yarn mop



Nov. 26, 1963 J. F. oBRlEN ETAI.

YARN MOP Filed July 7, 1960 United States Patent O 3,111,700 YARN M?`Fames F. GBrien and Philip K. Connor, Riverside, li.,

assignors, by niesne assignments, to The Dracliett Company, Cincinnati,Ohio, a corporation of Unio Filed July 7, 196i), Ser. No. 41,299 2Claims. (Ci. 15-229) This invention relates to a yarn mop and isparticularly concerned with improved means for detachably securing a mopbody to a mop head.

Heretofore, it has been customary to detachably secure a yarn mop bodyto the mop head so that when the mop body becomes dirty, it may beremoved, washed, dried and reattached to the mop head. Acceptance by theconsumer ultimately depends, to a large extent, upon the ease ofdetachment and reattachment of the mop body and the mop head.

ln accordance with the present invention, the mop body comprises anarray of parallel yarn strands to which one edge portion of a weltinghas been transversely secured at a point intermediate the ends of thestrands. The free edge portion of the secured welting contains a beadadapted to slide into an inwardly flared groove on the mop head. Thegroove and the welting may have corresponding shapes so that a securegripping action of the mop body occurs. Preferably, as in the embodimentshown, the groove has a longitudinally slotted tubular configurationwhile the welting has a cylindrical shape with a radial tongue extendingtherefrom. The crosssectional dimension of the slotted tubesubstantially corresponds to or is only slightly larger than thecross-sectional dimension of the cylindrical shape of the welting. Thusthe cylindrical shaped bead is rmly grasped by the tubular groove,especially if the lips of the slotted tubular groove converge to enclosethe tongue portion of the welting.

The material used for the welting and for the mop head permitsrelatively simple insertion of the welting into or out of the groovethrough a small slot in the side or bottom wall of the groove. With sucha detachable arrangement, only the mop body need to placed through awashing operation of cleaning. Obviously, this results in less wear andtear on the mop head and in longer life for the entire mop. Whenreplacement is necessary, only the mop head need be discarded, therebyeffecting a substantial saving.

In addition to all the above advantages, the mop of this inventionretains many of the desirable features embodied in mops of the priorart. A swivel connection between the head and the handle is retainedwhich permits rotation through 360 around a vertical axis and 180 arounda horizontal axis. This facilitates moving the mop body intohard-to-reach places. The dense yarn structure of the mop head providesa sufficient quantity of dust adhering members to perform efficientdusting. And the entire mop, by reason of its simplified constructionutilizing light weight materials, is easy to handle.

The structure by means of which the above mentioned and other advantagesof the invention are attained will be described in the followingspecification, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,showing a preferred illustrative embodiment of the invention in which:

FGURE l is a perspective View of the mop body, mop head and attachedhandle;

FIG. 2 is a broken perspective view of the mop body, showing the strandsin parallel arrangement with the welting aiiixed transversely across thearray;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the mop head and body shown inFIGURE l, taken along line 3-3;

FIG. 4 is a bottom View of the mop head, showing the 3,lil,7b PatentedNov. 26, 1963 ICC downwardly faced slotted groove into which the weltingof the mop body is inserted; and

FlG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the downwardly facedgroove showing the welting in place as it appears during use of the mop.

Referring to the drawing, the mop comprises a mop body 2 flaring outfrom a mop head 3 which contains a swivel 4 for attachment to a handle 5by a handle connecting means 6. It should be noted that the swivel 4 andthe handle connecting means 6 may utilize structure other than the oneshown.

The mop body 2 consists of a plurality of uniform and parallel arrangedstrands of yarn 9. The yarn is preferably made .of nylon or of a nylonblend so that the body may be washed in a conventional washing machinewith a hot water solution of soap or detergent without damage to thestrands of yarn.

Transversely affixed to the array of the parallel disposed yarns, asbest seen in FG. 2, is a welting 10 which has an enlarged bead portion13 and a longitudinal tongue portion il extending radially therefrom. Itis preferred that the bead of the welting correspond to the shape of thegroove 15 in the mop bead as more thoroughly described below. Also thetongue should have a thickness which corresponds to the width of theslot of said groove. A round solid bead for the welting as shown ispreferred; however, any enlarged polygonal shape would be useful.

This welting is preferably made of a resilient plastic composition suchas polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, polyamide, or similar resilientplastic substance. The tongue li extending from bead 13 is preferablysewn to the strands of yarn using nylon, cotton, rayon or other threadl2. The welting is sewn to the strands at a point intermediate the endsof the strands but nearer one edge thereof than the other, such as shownin FIG. 2. Such off-center afxation provides a proper uf body to the mopwhen it is assembled. The longer strands, on one side of the welting,comprise the exposed portion of the mop head where a greater length isrequired, and the shorter strands comprise the inner or center portionof the mop body located under the mop head. This arrangement provides amaximum amount of coverage of the mop body for the size of mop headused.

The mop head contains a longitudinally slotted downwardly faced groove1S defined by relatively spaced inner and outer concentric Walls oriianges 15A and iSB depending from its lower face 3A. The maximumcrosssectional dimension of which is substantially equal to or slightlylarger than the cross-sectional dimension of the bead 113. The lips ofthe groove are spaced from each other by a distance only slightlygreater than the thickness of the tongue 1i of the welting. An entryslot 16, formed in one wall or in the bottom of groove 15, permitsinsertion of the bead. Such insertion is accomplished by first graspingthe mop body so that the strands are doubled back at the point where thewelting is ailixed to the strands. One end of the bead is then threadedinto the groove through entry slot 16, and the entire welting pulledinto and around groove 15. Since the length of the welting and the Widthof the array of strands affixed thereto corresponds to the circumferenceof the mop head, one complete revolution back to slot 16 will be made asthe welting is pulled into the groove. At this point, the mop body isassembled with the mop head and the mop is ready for use.

Although the mop head is shown as being circular in horizontalcross-section, it obviously could be of other shape. The circular shapeis preferred because such configuration requires the least force to pullthe welting through the groove. Furthermore, this configurationfacilitates dusting hard-to-reach areas because it permits the yarn ofthe mop body to swivel under and around furniture, including furniturehaving short legs.

It is preferred that the mop head be made of plastic, preferablypolyethylene, polypropylene, or similar resilient plastic which isdeformable immediately after being formed but which has a tendency ormemory to return to its original shape, hereinafter for conveniencetermed shape return memory. Of course, other material may be used, suchas rubber, metal, wood and the like. Plastic is preferred because itlends itself to an economical molding operation to manufacture the part.And, in use, there is less tendency to mar furniture if the mop headshould be accidentally bumped against the furniture.

In the manufacture of the mop head, an injection or extrusion techniqueis preferably employed. With such a technique, the head with the groovestherein can be molded in one piece. This is accomplished by using asimple 2-piece mold with the parting line of the mold at the circularedge or just beneath the rim portion of the mop head. A male projectionon the lower half of the 2-piece mold forms the downwardly faced groovedin the mop head. With removal of the work piece from the mold while bothare still hot and the work piece is still deformable, no splitting ofthe outside or inside rim of the groove will occur even though thegroove has a narrow opening at the lips. And the shape return memory ofthe plastic material employed reforms the groove to substantially thesame shape after the mold has been removed.

As indicated, a swivel member 4 is provided in a centrally disposedportion of the mop head. This swivel permits a wide angle of travel ofthe mop handle in multi-directional paths.

Swivel 4 is preferably made of a high impact, tough rigid, styrene-typethermoplastic resin to provide the necessary strength to the connectionbetween the handle and the mop head. Suflcient clearance is providedbetween swivel 4 and mop body 3 to permit easy rotation.

Obviously, other modications not enumerated may 4. be incorporatedwithout departing from the true scope and spirit of the novel conceptsof this invention.

We claim:

1. A mop comprising a mopl head having a pair of relatively concentricannular iianges projecting down- Wardly therefrom, said flanges beingradially spaced and defining between them a continuous annular groovepresenting a downwardly opening mouth, one of said anges having a lipportion projecting partially across said mouth of the groove, a mop bodycomprising a resilient flexible .Welting having an enlarged beadingalong one edge of greater width than said mouth circumferentiallyslidably disposed in said groove inwardly of said lip, and a relativelynarrower tongue portion projecting outwardly through the mouth of saidgroove, a plurality of mop strands being secured to said tongue portion,the radiali?, inner said ange being formed with an entry slot extendingupwardly therein from its lower edge and of sucient width for insertiontherethrough of said enlarged beading portion circumferentially into andalong the groove, said beading being wholly disposed within said groovewith its ends urged outwardly away from said slot by the resiliency ofthe flexed beading.

2. A mop as defined in claim 1 in which said beading and said tongueportion are unitarily formed of a resilient plastic material.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,713,374 Burlat May 14, 1929 2,542,263 Schultz Feb. 20, 1951 2,673,124Mellor Mar. 23, 1954 2,686,328 Kirby Aug. 17, 1954 3,006,011 LittletonOct. 31, 1961 3,027,584 Bean Apr. 3, 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS 459,954 GreatBritain Jan. 19, 1937 802,418 Great Britain Oct. 1, 1958

1. A MOP COMPRISING A MOP HEAD HAVING A PAIR OF RELATIVELY CONCENTRICANNULAR FLANGES PROJECTING DOWNWARDLY THEREFROM, SAID FLANGES BEINGRADIALLY SPACED AND DEFINING BETWEEN THEM A CONTINUOUS ANNULAR GROOVEPRESENTING A DOWNWARDLY OPENING MOUTH, ONE OF SAID FLANGES HAVING A LIPPORTION PROJECTING PARTIALLY ACROSS SAID MOUTH OF THE GROOVE, A MOP BODYCOMPRISING A RESILIENT FLEXIBLE WELTING HAVING AN ENLARGED BEADING ALONGONE EDGE OF GREATER WIDTH THAN SAID MOUTH CIRCUMFERENTIALLY SLIDABLYDISPOSED IN SAID GROOVE INWARDLY OF SAID LIP, AND A RELATIVELY NARROWERTONGUE PORTION PROJECTING OUTWARDLY THROUGH THE MOUTH OF SAID GROOVE, APLURALITY OF MOP STRANDS BEING SECURED TO SAID TONGUE PORTION, THERADIALLY INNER SAID FLANGE BEING FORMED WITH AN ENTRY SLOT EXTENDINGUPWARDLY THEREIN FROM ITS LOWER EDGE AND OF SUFFICIENT WIDTH FORINSERTION THERETHROUGH OF SAID ENLARGED BEADING PORTIONCIRCUMFERENTIALLY INTO AND ALONG THE GROOVE, SAID BEADING BEING WHOLLYDISPOSED WITHIN SAID GROOVE WITH ITS ENDS URGED OUTWARDLY AWAY FROM SAIDSLOT BY THE RESILIENCY OF THE FLEXED BEADING.